It’s been quiet around the NHL for a couple weeks.
Suddenly, though, things are starting to pick up.
Monday’s trade that sent Patrik Laine and a second-round pick from the Columbus Blue Jackets to the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for Jordan Harris got people talking, if this intrepid reporter’s texts are anything to go off of.
Tuesday morning’s news that the Edmonton Oilers wouldn’t be matching the offer sheets provided by the St. Louis Blues to Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway only reinforced the sense that we’re well and truly past the summer slow season in the hockey world.
And understandably, that’s got us wondering whether or not there might be a move or two in the offing for the Calgary Flames.
On the one hand, they’ve got cap space to play with to the tune of nearly $20 million.
On the other, they’ve aggressively pursued a strategy of getting younger over the past 14 months and have accumulated invaluable draft capital for 2025 and beyond.
So what do we expect over the next month?
1. STAY OPEN
Speaking with my colleague Wes Gilbertson at the Flames’ development camp in early-July, GM Craig Conroy made it clear he’d be open to making moves and taking on salary — if it makes sense.
“I think for us, it’s maybe be a little patient, see what’s out there,” Conroy said. “There might be some teams that right now aren’t really in cap trouble, but might be in cap trouble, so you just want to be patient and see what shakes loose. You want to have flexibility and instead of signing, signing, signing, you want to leave some space and see if something makes sense. We would only do it if something made sense moving forward to help the club.”
The cap space the Flames have at their disposal is unequivocally an asset and could potentially allow them to make moves like what the San Jose Sharks have done recently. The Sharks took Cody Ceci off the Oilers’ hands, and also received a third-round pick for their efforts. They also got Jake Walman from the Detroit Red Wings and received a second-round pick for their efforts.
Nobody should be terribly surprised if the Flames do make a move, but they know they don’t have to. That’s a nice position for a club to find itself in.
2. BUT A MOVE FOR LAINE NEVER MADE SENSE
This is no knock on Laine, who has proven to be a good NHLer over the years and would almost certainly make the Flames better this season.
But he’s 26 years old with two years left on his current deal, carries a cap hit of $8.7-million for both of those years and just doesn’t really fit with where the team is at in its development cycle.
The Flames are adamant they want to stay competitive and don’t want to allow a losing culture to infiltrate the locker room, but realistically they’re going to be drafting in the lottery next year and it would be ideal if they could get a future first-line centre out of that.
The rebuild vs. retool debate has been had. The Flames have gotten younger and their path to contention will be paved by the work they do — and did earlier this summer — in the draft.
3. PLAYING THE KIDS
The 2023-24 season wasn’t an easy one for the Flames, but the emergence of Connor Zary and Martin Pospisil was a ray of light.
The same could be said of Dustin Wolf, who got his first extended taste of NHL action, playing in 17 games, and will be getting a lot more playing time now that Jacob Markstrom has been traded to the New Jersey Devils.
The upcoming season provides an opportunity to get those guys more ice time and a better read on what exactly they might become.
Are Zary and Pospisil wingers, or could their futures lie at centre? How far off is Wolf from being an everyday NHL starter? Can Jakob Pelletier bounce back from a tough year and become a productive second line type-player, or is he destined for a role lower in the lineup? What can Matthew Coronato become?
Former GM Brad Treliving loved bringing in veterans on professional tryout contracts late in the summer, but Conroy insisted in his very first press conference that wouldn’t be his priority.
That doesn’t mean young players won’t have to earn their opportunities, but ensuring those chances are there and getting the best possible read on what the future of the youth movement might hold is likely the approach over this final month.
4. WHEN DO THE FLAMES GET MORE ACTIVE?
This is an interesting question.
The Flames have traded away a long list of veterans since Conroy took over, setting the stage for the aforementioned youth movement. Chances are, they’re still a couple years away from really being able to call themselves a contender.
But there will come a point where they’re on the come-up and will be looking to acquire players who do make them better in the short-term.
Could that be next summer?
They’ve got two first-round draft picks and two more in the second next summer, and if they can get a franchise centre and a few more nice pieces, that might very well be enough to turn the tides. They’ve got two more picks in the 2026 first round, too, so you could start improving short-term while continuing to get younger for another year, too.
The Flames are rightfully preaching patience, but they may be trying to ascend sooner rather than later.
5. WORK TO DO CLOSE TO HOME
It’s worth noting the Flames also have a couple young guys who they still need to get to put pen to paper.
The Flames issued qualifying offers to seven restricted free agents back in June. Wolf, Adam Klapka and Yan Kuznetsov have all signed, but Pelletier, Cole Schwindt and Ilya Solovyov have not — Nikita Okhotiuk has signed in the KHL but the Flames retain his rights.
There’s no reason for panic on those three, but the point here is simply that the work isn’t done.
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